Bertha becomes first hurricane of Atlantic storm season

Bertha, the tropical storm, has now become the first Atlantic hurricane of the season. She is currently moving towards the west-northwest at 17mph and has maximum sustained winds of around 75mph. Some strengthening is forecast over the next couple of days as she heads over increasingly warmer waters.

It’s still too early to say whether Bertha will hit land; at the moment the track takes it fairly close to Bermuda but it could easily swing more to the west and take aim at the eastern U.S. seaboard anywhere from Florida to North Carolina.